Wire EDM for Jet Engine “Fir Trees”
Advances in wire EDM (electrical discharge machining) technology have made it acceptable for machining critical aerospace parts. It may now become the preferred method for cutting turbine disc “fir trees,” a particularly demanding application that h...

Published: 1/23/2015

A Hollow-Access Unit for Wire EDM
By simultaneously rotating and tilting the workpiece, this rotary tilt/turn hollow-access device from Hirschmann enables the EDM wire to cut complex openings that may have different paths at the top and bottom of the opening.

Published: 1/23/2015

Getting in Touch with Optimal EDM Results
Makino’s Hyper i control for wire EDM uses touchscreen navigation in its user interface, which helps a basic user to match the productivity and capability of an experienced operator.

Published: 8/29/2014

More Accurate Taper Cutting with Wire EDM
Cutting tall, steeply tapered surfaces with wire EDM often creates an overburn situation if the slope of the wire path changes from the top to the bottom of the cut. A feature called Volumetric Taper Compensation with four-axis overburn control comp...

Published: 1/17/2014

What it Takes to Do Unattended Wire EDM
The promise of running a wire EDM for long stretches without much operator attention is enticing, but many shops never manage to pull this off. Here are tips to make it happen, as offered by Mark Cicchetti, EDM technical director for Absolute Machin...

Published: 7/1/2013

Hole Making as a Core Competency
This manufacturer leverages various nonconventional machining processes to create accurate holes in a range of tough materials. In fact, precision hole-making has become one of its specialties.

Published: 2/4/2013

Straight Talk about Cutting Steep Tapers with Wire EDM
The RoboCut C400iA and two sizes of the larger C600iA wire EDM machines from Methods Machine Tools enable unusually steep tapers to be cut with the wire EDM process by positioning the workpiece with a rotary-tilt table.

Published: 1/16/2013

Scratching the Surface
Although this shop has yet to fully explore the capabilities of a new wire EDM’s unique motion system and other precision-boosting features, more incremental improvements have already spurred management to order a second, identical model.